New Spirits, Old Fans

Dennis Hewlett manages The Pub on Passyunk East — known by locals as The P.O.P.E. — in the rising-star neighborhood of Passyunk in South Philadelphia, Pa. The spot is a great place to kick back with a cold craft brew, thanks to a staff that knows good beer and stellar service.

“While our crowd is diverse, its core base is young professionals and young creative minds alike,” Hewlett says. “The pub offers 14 rotating drafts and over 70 types of bottled beer and cans.”

This spring, the pub began highlighting two new spirits produced by Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction branding group: Root, a root-tea liqueur, and Snap, a gingersnap liqueur. The “Root for the Phillies” promotion features Root- and Snap-centric cocktails named after Philadelphia Phillies players. For $5 to $7, guests can order baseball-themed beverages, such as the Chooch, made with Root, Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer and Blackstrap Bitters and garnished with a cherry, or the Manny Trillo, featuring Snap, ginger ale and a dash of Fee Brothers Whiskey Barrel Aged Bitters. The promotion will run until the end of baseball season.

“I even got my chef involved by coming up with a barbecue sauce using Root,” Hewlett says. “Thus far, the turnout and feedback has been great, even though the weather on the morning of Opening Day was cold and rainy. People have responded well to it.”